Of course this was nonsense. Dr. Bellarmino did not mention that the distinction between academic and industry workers had long since been blurred. Twenty percent of academic researchers were paid by industry. Ten percent of academics did drug development. More than 10 percent had a product already on the market. More than 40 percent had applied for patents in the course of their careers.
Nor did Bellarmino mention that he, too, pursued gene patents aggressively. In the last four years, his laboratory had filed 572 patent applications covering a wide spectrum of conditions, from Alzheimer's and schizophrenia to manic depression, anxiety, and attention-deficit disorders. He had secured patents for dozens of genes for specific metabolic disorders, ranging from deficiency of l-thyroxy-hydrocambrine (associated with restless leg disorder of sleep) to an excess of para-amino-2, 4-dihydroxybenthamine (causing urinary frequency in sleep).
"However," Dr. Bellarmino said, "I can assure this committee that gene patenting in general is a system that serves the common good. Our procedures to protect intellectual property work well. Important research is protected, and the consumer, the American patient, is the beneficiary of our efforts."
He did not tell them that more than four thousand DNA-based patents were granted each year - two every hour of each working day. Since there were only thirty-five thousand genes in the human genome, most experts estimated that more than 20 percent of the genome was already privately owned.
Bellarmino did not point out that the biggest patent owner was not some industrial giant but the University of California. UC owned more gene patents than Pfizer, Merck, Lilly, and Wyeth combined. They owned more patents than the U.S. government.
"The notion that someone owns part of the human genome strikes some people as unusual," Bellarmino said. "But it's what makes America great and keeps our innovation strong. True, it causes the occasional glitch, but over time, all that will get resolved. Gene patenting is the way to go."
At the conclusion of his testimony, Dr. Bellarmino left the hearing and headed for Reagan Airport, where he would fly back to Ohio, to resume his research on the "novelty gene," research being conducted at an amusement park there. Bellarmino had a film crew from60 Minutes following him around, putting together a segment that would show his varied and important genetic research, and also tell his personal story. Time spent in Ohio was a significant part of the final film. Because there he interacted with ordinary people, and as the filmmakers said, the human touch was what was really important, especially with a man of science, and especially on television.
Massachusetts Office of University Technology TransferGOVERNMENT CENTER, BOSTON
For Immediate Release
SCIENTISTS GROW MINIATURE EAR IN LAB
First "Partial Life Form" at MIT
Possible Applications in Hearing Technology
MIT scientists have grown a human ear in tissue culture for the first time.
Australian performance artist Stelarc collaborated with labs at the Massachusetts Institute of Technology to produce an extra ear for himself. The ear was one-quarter scale, slightly larger than a bottle cap. The tissue taken from Stelarc was cultured in a rotating micro-gravity bioreactor while growing.
MIT issued a statement that the extra ear could be considered "a partial life form - partly constructed and partly grown." The ear fits comfortably in the palm of the hand.
Last year, the same MIT lab made steaks of frog tissue grown over biopolymer mesh. They had also grown steak from the cells of an unborn sheep. And they created what they referred to as "victimless leather." This was skin that had been artificially grown in the laboratory and was suitable for shoes, purses, belts, and other leather goods - presumably with an eye to the robust vegan market.
Several hearing-aid companies have opened talks with MIT about licensing their ear-making technology. According to geneticist Zack Rabi, "As the American population ages, many senior citizens may prefer to grow slightly enlarged, genetically modified ears, rather than rely on hearing-aid technology. A spokesperson for Audion, the hearing-aid company, noted, "We're not talking about Dumbo ears. Just a small increase of 20 percent in pinna size would double auditory efficiency. We think the market for enlarged ears is huge. When lots of people have them, no one will notice anymore. We believe big ears will become the new standard, like silicon breast implants."
Chapter 22-25
CHapter 022
It was a bad dayfor Marty Roberts, made much worse by a phone call from Emily Weller:
"Dr. Roberts, I'm calling you from the mortuary. It seems there's a problem with my husband's cremation."
"What kind of problem?" Marty Roberts said, sitting in his office in the pathology lab.
"They're saying they can't cremate my Jack if he contains metal."
"Metal? What do you mean, metal? Your husband didn't have any hip replacements or war injuries, did he?"
"No, no. They are saying that his arms and legs have metal pipes in them. And the bones have been removed."
"Really." Marty stood up in his chair and snapped his fingers in the air, getting Raza's attention in the autopsy room outside. "I wonder how that could have happened."
"I was calling to ask you the same thing."
"I don't know what to say. It's quite beyond me, Mrs. Weller. I must say, I'm shocked."
By then Raza had come in the room.
"I'm going to put you on speaker, Mrs. Weller, so I can make some notes as we speak. Are you with your husband at the crematorium now?"
"Yes," she said. "And they are saying he has lead pipes in his arms and legs, so they can't cremate him."